


The Science of a Lost Empire

by island-mountain-glacier (Obscurity)



Category: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Forever (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, M/M, Queerplatonic Relationships, Various Accounts of Sacrifice, which means several major character deaths but not from the main trio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-20
Updated: 2015-11-20
Packaged: 2018-05-01 21:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5221694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obscurity/pseuds/island-mountain-glacier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following in the footsteps of his Grandfather, Lucas dreamed of one day finding the lost city of Atlantis. He jumps at the opportunity, despite the rather sketchy circumstances, when an offer is extended to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Lucas’ heart rate sped up as he glanced as the clock for about the fifth time in the past minute. He shouldn’t be scared, but it was hard to be calm when his entire career and his life's work was riding on the presentation that he was set to give in a few minutes.

He’d been preparing for days, gathering all the notes and information that he’d compiled over the past several years. If mirrors could wear out, the lopsided one nailed to the wall across from him most likely would be from the number of times he’d practiced in front of it.

Lucas edged around the mess at the back of the room that was hidden behind the large chalkboard which separated the room into halves. He’d never really been the organized sort, and, when he really got absorbed in his work, it could be weeks before he finally got around to rearranging everything into more functional positions. It was a miracle that he’d been able to clean up at least the front of the room in time.

He peered through the small gap between the chalkboard and the wall, admiring the work he’d done. When the museum had been kind enough to give him use of the boiler room, it had been a mess of discarded cardboard and various museum exhibits that no longer held the wonder they must have once possessed.

It was an awkward transition between the back and the front. The chalkboard swiveled, and the bolts on either end of the rotating board were just loose enough to make it inconvenient. It never quite faced one way, and, whenever Lucas tried to write on it, he had to hold it still else the board shifted away from him.

Part of the world map that he’d drawn was smudged, so he tilted it forward just slightly so that he could reach the bottom edge of Greenland without messing up the rest of the map. Just as he applied the finishing touches, a canister fell from the pneumatic tube, and he flinched, pulling back his hand quickly so that the chalk didn’t add any extra marks to the board.

He let go of the board and edged back to the other side of the room, extracting the canister and reading its contents quickly. It was a notification, an hour late, informing him that his appointment had been moved forward by...precisely one hour. He was about to reach for the phone when another canister descended from the unforgiving heavens.

“Dear Lucas Wahl, due to your absence, we regret to inform you that your appointment has been cancelled,” he read aloud, his stomach dropping.

Part of him understood fully what had just happened, that the business tycoons think he’s obsessed with what’s clearly a myth, but the other part of him was in full on denial. Quickly, he gathered up the maps that he’d intended to use during the presentation and ran out into the hallway.

The pomp men in fancy business suits scattered the second they saw him. Were the circumstances any different, Lucas might have found the whole ordeal hilarious, but at the moment it was little more than an insult. Doors slammed around him as he rushed through the hall, trying to catch at least one of them. 

“There’s been a mistake,” he yelled, pounding on one of the doors with his spare hand. “I only just got the announcement!” He could feel the rolled up maps crinkling under his arm and he loosened his grip on them, only to have a few fall to the floor.

“I have further proof that Atlantis exists!” he said, trying another door when he noticed that one of the tycoons hadn’t managed to get into one of the surrounding rooms in time and was trying, in vain, to hide behind a nearly leafless potted plant.

“Please!” Lucas shouted, running up to him and pushing aside the few leaves that covered his face. “The Shepard’s Journal, it’s in Iceland!”

The man gave him a queer look before bolting for the door. For someone who looked like he hadn’t worked a day in his life, he ran _really_ fast.

Lucas chased after him, maps scattering across the ground as he burst out of the front entrance just in time to see the man jumping into a taxi.

“Please, sir,” Lucas said, gasping for breath as he pushed aside the curtains that covered the passenger side window. “I’ve really found it this time.”

The man almost looked constipated, but he didn’t tell the driver to leave just yet. It’s a stroke of luck, Lucas decided.

“The route to Atlantis I mentioned last year,” he continued, unrolling one of the maps and showing it to the man, hoping that it was something relevant, “it can be found. I just need to get the Shepard’s Journal from Iceland—the translation was wrong, it isn't Ireland—and it’ll lead us straight to it!”

The man sighed. It was negative and paternal, which was an undeniable ‘no’. Lucas' stomach dropped with his hopes.“I’m sorry, Wahl,” he said, “but we simply don’t have the money to fund a trip to send you to Iceland.”

That was a lie and they both new it, but by the time Lucas managed to pick up his sinking heart and strengthen his resolve, the taxi had already begun to drive away.

“Wait!” he called after it, running as fast as he could to keep pace. The man had rolled up his window, so Lucas took the opportunity to press a map against it. “Once I get the journal, there’s a one hundred percent chance that I can find Atlantis. I swear it’s not a myth!”

There was no response from behind the curtains, so Lucas took a leap of faith and tried the windshield. “Please!” he yelled over the thrum of the engine and the clattering of the wheels over the concrete. “Please just listen to me!”

Startled, the driver pulled the car to a stop, effectively throwing Lucas off. He fell to the ground, his maps scattered around him.

The man rolled down his window, slowly for effect. “The answer is no.”

“I’ll quit?” Lucas tried.

“Then quit,” the man said with a sneer before the car drove away, the man’s fat head no longer poking out of the window.

Grandpa would be so disappointed.

\--

By the time Lucas reached his apartment, it had started raining. He'd been unfortunate enough to forget his umbrella at the library, so he was soaked to the core, perfectly representative of the day's experiences.

It took him a while to figure out how exactly the key fit into the door. It had been weeks since he'd been in his apartment last, and since he practically lived in the museum's boiler room, he'd never really gotten around to making it feel like home. The blank walls and simplistic furniture were almost foreign to him.

Lucas hung up his dripping trench coat and progressed to the kitchen. What he really wanted to do was binge on something. Anything. Though, preferably, food, if anything was still good.

He opened the bread drawer and squinted at the roll of moldy bread. The unmaintained icebox had melted into a puddle of water and a variety of spoiled fruits scented the kitchen with something foul. Perhaps it would have been better if he'd bought food before he'd come home. He walked to the small living room with the intent of sitting down and sighing with emphasis, when he was stopped by a strange sight.

There was someone in his chair. Someone that he definitely Did Not Know. Startled, he took a few steps backward, his back pressing against the wall as he tried desperately to remember if he'd somehow entered the wrong apartment. As his hands searched the area for something he could use to defend himself with, he rifled through what he knew. For instance, his keys worked at the door, and all the little landmarks were familiar: the small nick on the wall, the odd stain on the ceiling left by the room's form tenant, and the scratch on the countertop left by a series of bad days.

His hands closed around something round, a wooden stick, and he brought it up in front of him defensively. It wasn't as if he actually knew how to use it, but it was fun to pretend.

"Who are you?" Lucas asked, gulping. It was hard to sound menacing when your voice shook.

The person, a woman, stopped examining the wall across from her and fixed Lucas with a authoritative look, her coat falling from her shoulders as she stood up. She had a knowing face and rather intimidating eyebrows. "My name is Nora," she said, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly. "I know someone who is very interested in your work."


	2. Chapter 2

Naturally, Lucas jumped at the chance, which was how he found himself in a suspicious looking car driving through some suspicious looking gates which led to a suspicious looking mansion. Ah. Perhaps he wasn't the best at thinking ahead. Still, if there was any place for him to go now, this was it. He was quite willing to accept anything at this point.

A tall suit of armor that stood watch just inside the door appeared to date back to medieval times. Nora led him down a hall filled with a variety of statues and paintings that looked as if they belonged in a museum. The tall walls and poor lighting definitely gave it the essence of such. Lucas was dragged into the elevator at the end of the red carpet, his eyes lingering on the intricate mosaic that made up much of the ceiling.

"My boss expects the best from you," Nora said stiffly. "Please do act professionally."

Lucas was about to let out an indignant snort when he realized that that was, actually, quite unprofessional. Instead, he nodded, hoping his expression didn't betray his indecision, and opted to remain silent.

The elevator stopped at the bottom floor followed by a brief lull before the doors parted, and Nora all but pushed him into the room.

The room was huge, with tall ceilings and towering walls. It was certainly darker than the upper room, illuminated only by a well maintained fire and a large fish tank that covered the entire length of the wall. Whoever lived here had to be exorbitantly rich.

The sound of shuffling papers could be heard from the end of the room. Lucas walked over, suddenly hyperaware of the way he moved. Each step came down far to heavily, his footsteps echoing off the walls.

A woman was sitting behind the desk, a feather pen twirling in between her fingers as she gazed intently at the paper work in front of her. A small smile appeared on her face when she noticed Lucas, and she gestured for him to come closer.

Her smile was quite the opposite of Nora's. It was nearly imperceptible, yet it had and odd, honest quality to it. If he looked hard enough, he could see that it reached her eyes.

"I trust Nora didn't tell you much about me?" she asked when Lucas hovered around the chair that was placed in front of the desk.

Lucas shook his head, uncertain if he should speak.

The woman laughed. "Well, she does seem to like putting the fear of God in people, not that she's wrong to do so, but it wouldn't hurt her to loosen up."

The emphatic nod that Lucas had failed to stop seemed to amuse her.

"My name's Joanna Reece," she continued, gesturing again to the chair. "Please take a seat."

Lucas pulled the chair out and sat in it. It had a cushion, but it felt like one of the hardest chairs he'd ever had the pleasure of sitting on. The fact that he kept his back painfully straight in an attempt to not appear a slob didn't do much to help. Ms. (Mrs.?) Reece's attempts at lightening the mood had had their effect, but the lingering remnants of Nora still had a hold on him.

Several seconds passed in awkward silence before Joanna finally said something to break it.

“You know you’re allowed to speak,” she said, fixing Lucas with a glance that did nothing to quell Lucas’ fears.

“Nora told me that you’ve taken an interest in my work?” he tried.

“I have indeed,” Joanna replied, looking down at one of the papers on her desk. It was too dark in the room for Lucas to even try to guess what was on it. “Atlantis is certainly an interesting topic to pursue. Why did you?” Her eyes on him again, looking at him expectantly, and Lucas couldn’t help but think it was a test of some sort.

“I—” Lucas hesitated, but forced himself to continue. Finally, here was someone rich enough to line their walls with literal columns _and_ have a wall sized fish tank who was also willing to give him the time of day. “I suppose it started with my grandfather,” Lucas explained.

A small, secretive smile slipped onto Joanna’s face that Lucas nearly missed.

“I spent a lot of time with him as a kid,” Lucas said. “He would always tell me stories of his adventures, all of his discoveries and all of his dreams.” He laughed sadly, looking down at the ground. “My favorites were always the ones about a vast city in the middle of the ocean. Atlantis.” He paused then looked up, focusing on one of the fish in the tank right behind Joanna. “He always wanted to go there, you know?”

He could have sworn he’d seen her nod.

“I suppose I picked up his dreams,” Lucas continued, smiling fondly. “Plus, I mean, what isn’t interesting about”—he gestured widely—“all that. Atlantis.”

“Your grandfather was a good man,” Joanna said. “He told me quite a bit about you. Almost everything good.”

Lucas jolted straight upright in his chair, surprised suddenly by how comfortable he’d gotten in it. “You knew Grandfather?” he asked.

“He was a close friend of mine,” Joanna said with a slight tip of her head. “Almost like a second father.”

Lucas stared at her, his mouth agape before he remembered his manners and shut it, embarrassed.

“Oh,” he whispered.

“Now, onto about why you’re here. He left something in my care, and I think it’s about time I pass it on to you," she said and reached under her desk, bringing up a small package wrapped up in paper. "Never told me what was in it," she said, handing it over, "just that it's extremely valuable and important."

Lucas took it in his hands with a gentle reverence. It was quite heavily weighted, but also well balanced. The edges of the brown paper sheet that covered it had started to tear, and the paper itself was slightly damp with age.

Joanna stared at him expectantly. "Well?" she asked. "Don't keep me waiting."

Lucas scrambled into action, tugging gently at the string that kept the paper attached. It came apart with ease, falling into Lucas' hands. The second Lucas saw the cover, he bit back a surprised gasp that edged into coughing.

Joanna looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Not an allergic reaction, I hope?" she asked.

Lucas held up the book weakly. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, his voice barely raising above a whisper.

"I was hoping you could tell me that," she replied.

"This is the Shepard's Journal," Lucas explained, and he fought the urge to lapse into lecture mode. When he taught, he was never stoic like most of the professors he'd met during his brief stint as a TA. He always gushed with a sort of hyperactive enthusiasm and had interspersed bits of dark humor that probably scared away a lot of potential cartographers. "This is–" Lucas tried to say, but he found himself at a loss for words. He struggled to form a sentence, or ever a fragment of one. Anything. "I can find Atlantis with this!" he burst out.

A slow smile appeared on Joanna's face. "So, now that you have it, what will you do?"

"I don't know," Lucas said, but ideas were already forming in his mind. He hoped that the smile that he had on his face wasn't particularly wild. "Maybe I can finally convince someone to fund the trip."

"I doubt that," Joanna interjected.

Lucas tried hard not to look hurt, especially when he considered the truth in her words. "I'll pay for it instead then," he tried. "I'll sell everything I own. I'll get to Atlantis even if I have to go on a raft."

"Good," Joanna said. Her words had an odd sort of contented quality of them. "That's precisely what I wanted to hear."

Lucas stared at her for a second, confused, but before he could properly process what she'd said, she gathered up a few files from her desk and was already walking across the room.

Lucas gripped the edges of the chair, wondering if he should get up and follow her, when she pushed a button on a table next to the fish tank. There was near silent whir of machinery and the table top split open, to reveal a number of small model submarines far more impressive in appearance than anything Lucas had ever seen. His curiosity and excitement overpowering his inhibitions, he jumped up from his chair to join Joanna near the table.

"I understand that this is no raft," she said, "but I'm confident it'll still get you to Atlantis."

Lucas gaped at her, unable to speak. He was barely able to even process what he was seeing.

"I've already organized a crew," Joanna said, handing Lucas the files she'd brought over from her desk. "They are all people your grandfather trained, real trustworthy people and friends of mine. Just promise me this one thing."

Lucas nodded. "Anything," he promised. At this point, he felt like he'd even give his life for simply a glimpse at Atlantis.

"Bring me back something. I just need proof. In memory of your grandfather."

"Of course," Lucas replied, face impassioned. "I'd bring you back the entire city if I could."


	3. Chapter 3

The actual submarine was even more awe inspiring than the model. It was immense. Lucas had expected it, of course, but that didn't stop it from still taking his breath away. He edged through the crowd of uniformed people when he ran into Joanna.

"Ready to go?" she asked, pulling him out from the wave of people.

Lucas nodded eagerly. "I've never been more so," he replied.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said, and stepped aside so that the man that had been behind her was now beside her. "This is Dr. Harold Washington. He'll be leading the crew."

Harold's face was blank for a moment before a smooth, serpentine smile appeared on the man's face. "It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand in greeting.

"Lucas Wahl," Lucas supplied, taking his hand and shaking it. The man had an extremely strong grip. Lucas had read in some psychological journal that that was a sign of confidence and a trait of a good leader. He probably was, Lucas figured, but he had a quality to him that suggested ulterior motives. The thought wasn't strong, however. The excitement and anticipation running through his veins pushed everything onto the back burner.

"Lucas Wahl," Harold repeated, his smile turning more natural. "I'm sure it will be a pleasure working with you."

"Thank you," Lucas replied with a slight tilt of his head. "I'm just glad I get to tag along."

"Nonsense," Joanna said. "This whole trip wouldn't be possible without you."

Lucas flushed, ducking his head humbly. "Still, thank you."

"Consider it my pleasure," she replied, and pointed Lucas towards the opening in the submarine. "Now go along. You don't want to miss your ride."

Lucas smiled graciously and followed Dr. Washington into the submarine.

–

Lucas didn't have a chance to watch as the submarine went under. Rather, he was directed to the rooming area and given instructions. He pushed opened the heavy metal door, and was greeted with a compact, harshly lit room with two bunk beds pushed up against opposite walls. The only bed that seemed un-lived in was one of the lower bunks. He figured that it was the one left for him, and was about to sit down into it, but he was pushed forcibly away by the older man in the upper bunk who Lucas had sworn was asleep.

Lucas fell backwards, bumping against the bunk behind him.

The man jumped down onto the ground, much more agile than Lucas expected, causing him to throw his hands up to the sides of his head. Despite the initial shock, he was also much shorter than Lucas, failing to intimidate.

He had a pair of odd looking glasses sitting on his nose, like the kind an oculist might possess to check their patients' vision, along with a flashlight that was attached to his head. He took Lucas's hand squinting at his fingernails through the lenses.

"A cartographer and linguist," the man mused. "Lucas Wahl, I take it?"

Lucas nodded quickly. "Y-yes," he stuttered out.

"Name's Abe," the man said, sticking a hand out. There was dirt caked on it. Lucas took his hand carefully, shaking it with the least amount of contact he could muster.

"It's nice to meet you?" he tried, shaking his hand when Abe had turned back to the bed, removing the bedsheets. He suspected that Abe hadn't heard he when he simply nodded, examining the dirt piles kept on the bed with the greatest care. Lucas was edging away carefully when two more people came in through the door, deep in conversation.

The woman noticed him first.

"The crew grows larger!" she exclaimed, a sweet, sweet smile on her face.

Lucas could feel the flush rising up from beneath his collar to his cheeks. He didn't know how to act, especially when confronted with a person who looked like the sun, which left him gaping like a fish.

The man on her right laughed. He had a nice laugh, one that reminded him of the ringing of bells and choirs of angels, that probably would have made Lucas want to laugh along had his brain not already shorted out.

"Name's Abigail, and this is James," the woman said, pulling James to her side. "We're the resident doctors."

"That one over there is Lucas," Abe said, without even looking up from whatever he was doing on the bed."

"Lucas," James repeated, as if trying out the name, and Lucas nodded, perhaps a bit too fervently, trusting his motions to do what he knew his voice could not.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Abigail said, picking up the conversation as she took Lucas' hand and gave it a firm shake.

Lucas gulped, helpless.

–

He was called to the bridge soon afterward. Apparently no one had been informed on how, precisely, the journey was supposed to play out or where they were even going. That left Lucas, one of the worst presenters alive, to tell an entire crew of very important people what they were going to do.

Lucas followed Dr. Washington up the stairs to a small crowd of people, most of them from the main crew, he realized, from when he'd glanced over the main file. He tightened his grip around the Shepard's Journal, which he'd rarely let out of his sight for a few seconds since he'd received it, hence why it was still on his person.

"Go on," Dr. Washington said encouragingly, Nora standing stoically at his side. "Tell us, how are we going to get to Atlantis?"   
"First of all," he said, poking at the projector, which didn't seem to be turning on, "our first obstacle will most likely be the guardian of Atlantis." He jabbed the projector with a finger and it flickered on briefly, blinding him. He gave up on it, turning it off when it failed to cooperate. Instead, he took up a piece of chalk and started to draw on the chalkboard he'd (thankfully) been presented with.

"The guardian of Atlantis," he repeated, "is a terrifying creature that, in ancient times, was said to rival the power of the gods. It's a creature, so great and so terrifying, that few ever saw it and lived." The words tumbled out easily. He was a story teller at heart, even if he didn't quite have the proper personality to captivate the audience.

He worked quickly as he spoke, etching out the shape of the creature. He'd seen it hundreds of times, even before the Shepard's Journal had fallen into his hands, and he'd practiced the drawing at least half as many times, so he stepped back to admire how accurate the quick chalk scribble was.

"It looks like a lobster," a member of the crew commented, Mike Hanson, if Lucas remembered correctly. "Perhaps we should cook it."

"A giant lobster that can shoot electricity out of its eyes," Lucas corrected, "will not take well to that."

The woman standing next to him, beautiful, Lucas noted, with a commanding and knowledgable visage, scoffed ever so lightly and rolled her eyes. In the back of the small crowd, a fairly short man dressed all in black seemed to take interest in what he was saying. Molly Dawes and Adam, Lucas' mind helpfully supplied.

"We should be able to get past it if we're careful not to wake it or are fast enough to avoid it," Lucas continued.

"And if not, I can handle it," Hanson supplied. Lucas remembered seeing him earlier, causally carrying around a box full of dynamite. Despite the looks of confusion and concern that he'd given Lucas' presentation so far, Lucas felt it was best to avoid the man's bad side. Not wanting to object in any way, Lucas nodded, leaving the conversation thread where it was.

"After that, there's an underwater tube," he explained, moving to the other side of the board to sketch out a quick diagram of the route, "that leads down to an air pocket, and from there, there's what's been called a highway that should lead us, more or less straight to Atlantis."

The drawing, he knew, was a heavily simplified version of the real thing, and he was itching to draw the entire thing out. However, he'd been told by a friend, when he'd still had them, that he had a tendency to focus on smaller things, and not the bigger picture. It was a flaw he was actively working towards correcting.

Abe's head popped out from the crowd, taking interest in the map. A geologist and an archaeologist, Lucas could easily understand why he did.

Suddenly, the audio system crackled to life, and a disembodied voice called Dr. Washington to the main viewing dock.

"That's all for now," Dr. Washington said with a quick clap of his hands. "Back to your positions now, all of you."

Lucas lagged after him, gaping when the lights of the submarine ran across the sea floor.

Nora, who was standing beside Dr. Washington, raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"These ships," Lucas explained, refusing to drag his eyes away from the glass, "they're from every time period in history. This in itself in a huge discovery!"   
Nora squinted slightly, but didn't reply, instead, she turned to Dr. Washington, who simply nodded. He didn't seem surprised, but too much of Lucas' attention was on the sunken ships for him to notice or to care.

The audio system let loose a fit of static and the voice came back.

"Dr. Washington, are you hearing this?" the voice asked.

A loud, reverberating whine echoed from the speakers, filling the room. Lucas turned his head toward the speakers, eyes wide. Down here, the only logical answer to what the sound had come from was a pod of whales, but, personally, it reminded him of the whines and groans of the pipes back down in the boiler room of the museum.

The worry on his face was mirrored on the faces of Dr. Washington and Nora.

Dr. Washington's eyebrows knitted together. "Martinez, do you know what that is?"

There was a pause before the voice came back through the speakers. "I'm not certain."

"Whales?" Nora offered.

Dr. Washington shook his head. "I'd be inclined to agree but--" 

Nora finished the sentence for him. "It sounds metallic."

They followed the sound with their eyes as it passed over them slowly, eventually fading away.

"Maybe it's gone?" she sounded hopeful, speaking for all of them and showing what was probably the most vulnerability that Lucas would ever see on her.

Their hopes were crushed however, as the submarine shook violently accompanied by a loud crunching sound and the screams of workers.

"It's the Leviathan," Lucas whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lasers were not invented yet and this pains me  
> like, i really wanted to use that as a descriptive word


	4. Chapter 4

The submarine was seized by something much larger. The crunch of metal that signified first contact was accompanied by a rush of water on the upper decks. The alarms went off immediately, the speakers taken over by a loud, repetitive beep, and everything was cast in red as the warning lights flickered on.

Dr. Washington took a split second to observe the chaos before he turned to the control panel and barked out a quick order into a microphone.

"Fire the torpedoes!" he yelled, nodding briefly to Nora who ran out of the room. "Everyone prepare for battle! Someone get Hanson in one of the subpods!"

Lucas stood in shock, only moving when Dr. Washington took his arm and started to drag him out of the room.

"I need a damage report," Dr. Washington said as they passed by Molly who was busy sealing one of the walk ways shut.

"Most of the passages are already flooded," she replied, following after them. "As soon as it reaches the boiler, we're done for."

"How much time do we have until then?" Dr. Washington asked.

"Not enough," Molly replied simply before jumping down a floor so she could continue her work elsewhere.

Dr. Washington pulled Lucas in front of him. "Get to one of the escape pods," he said, pointing him in the proper direction. "If you see anyone, bring them with you."

Lucas nodded rapidly, dashing away so that Dr. Washington could keep managing the situation. He ran across Adam, who was looking out a window at the Leviathan.

"It's a machine," Adam whispered, his voice reverent, despite the fact that his eyes remained flat. He turned to Lucas and repeated it. "It's a _machine_."

Lucas looked out the glass just in time to see a mechanical tail swish past, dragging the water along with it, causing the submarine to creak and grown. He gaped at it, openmouthed.

"It...," he trailed off as one of they eyes moved past the window, aperture narrowing. "I can't believe it, it is!"

That certainly wasn't in the Shepard's Journal. How to survive an experience with the Leviathan also wasn't in there either, however, so he forced himself away from the window.

"Adam," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, "we've got to get out of here."

Adam's gaze lingered at the window, but eventually, he too tore himself away from it. "The escape pods are just down that way," he said. "Nora and a few other members of the crew are waiting." He glanced at Lucas, his eyes narrowing just slightly. "Yes," he said, after a brief pause. "Let's go."

Of all the members of the crew that Lucas had the pleasure of meeting up until then, Adam was probably the only one who lacked a strong personality. He seemed almost malleable.

It barely took any time at all for them to reach the escape pods, and they buckled in quickly into the last one, just as Dr. Washington arrived, claiming the final seat.

"We've got to go," he said, his voice rough, rasping just slightly in response to what was probably a lot of yelling. "Nora, take it away."

Nora kicked at one of the levers and the pod sealed shut. Beneath them, the floor of the submarine gave way and they dipped into the water.

There were a few seconds of silence. Then the Leviathan struck, shaking the submarine violently. The rush of water pushed the pod away slightly, and Isaac Monroe, another member of the crew, took hold of the controls, directing it away at top speed. Behind them, the submarine began to blow, the shockwaves from the explosions rocking the pod.

Lucas had definitely not prepared for this. He clutched at his bag, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to shut out the sights and sounds around him.

The people in the pod were yelling, quick fire conversation shooting about between them. It was a while before he realized that Isaac was trying to get his attention.

"Where are we supposed to be going?" he yelled over the ruckus, jerking the controls to the side, narrowly avoiding a beam of energy that the Leviathan had fired from its eyes.

Lucas' stomach lurched as the pod swerved from side to side. "We're looking for a crevice," he choked out. "The passage should be in there."

"It's there," Adam said, pointing at a narrow canyon on the sea bottom.

Isaac squinted into the murk, lit poorly by the beams on the pod. "I see it," he said, maneuvering the pod down the opening. A few other pods, both fighter and escape alike, followed after them. Lucas watched in horror as one of the pods beside them was shot down by the Leviathan. There was a sickening crunch as the pod and the people inside banged up against the sides of the crevice-turned-tunnel.

He watched the wreckage with morbid interest until the pod swerved again and Lucas was forced to keel over to keep himself from throwing up.

They emerged from the tunnel with a bang, crashing against the narrow lip of the tube. Isaac propelled them to the surface with what little fuel was left in the tank.

"How is everyone?" he asked, looking around the pod.

Lucas squeaked.

–

"Everyone, please take a moment of silence to remember those who we've lost," Dr. Washington said, surveying the significantly diminished crowd in front of him. "The good people who gave their lives for the sake of our expedition. It's our job to finish what they've started."

Lucas was sitting on the ground a good distance from the rest of the crew, morose. He gazed out at the water, watching the ripples as they ebbed back and forth from the edges of the cave to the bank right before him. He glanced back towards the crowd, and, after a moment's thought, got up to join them.

"From this point forward, we're going to have to have everyone pulling twice their own weight," Lucas heard Dr. Washington say when he was back in earshot. "All of our hopes for survival are on your shoulders," he continued, turning to face Lucas. "That little book of yours is the key to our survival."

Lucas gulped, not audibly, he hoped, but nodded anyways. He always knew that the trip to Atlantis wasn't going to be an easy task. In real life, there were an infinite number of variables that he couldn't simply account for when it came to theory. "I'll do my best," he replied, cursing himself internally when his voice wavered as he spoke. 

The look most of the crowd gave him, the one that ever so clearly seemed to say, 'just your best isn't going to cut it,' didn't help the fear that bubbled up in his gut.

"Pack up everybody," Dr. Washington said, turning the people's attention away from Lucas. "Pick a car and get it moving. Lucas, you're in front."

\--

Lucas was a bicycle person. This had mostly come as a direct result that the only time he'd driven a car, he'd crashed it soon afterwards. After that, he biked everywhere: to work, to the store, and back home. When he moved to D.C., using the ratty, old bike that he'd had for years only became easier.

Now that he was leading the entire troupe, it became suddenly became necessary for him to drive a truck approximately four times larger than the car he crashed.

He could feel everyone judging his erratic driving. The stop and go pace he was maintaining just wasn't their speed.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Molly asked. Apparently he was going slow enough that she could casually walk beside him.

"Of course I do," Lucas bluffed. "I'm just being careful."

She watched, a perfect eyebrow raised, as he came to a stop again, smoke spitting out from a pipe on the tail end of the truck.

"Yeah, nevermind," he said, admitting to his failure.

Molly took over, leaving Lucas to occupy the passenger's seat. At least from there, he could take the time to admire the stunning architecture around him.

"Look at that!" he exclaimed, staring out at a stylized yet heavily detailed statue of some sort of aquatic lion-like creature.

The conversational silence he was met with was disheartening, but he chose to ignore it. At least _he_ could have some fun while he was here. He was torn away from his thoughts when they passed a series of rather large columns.

"Imagine if all those tycoons could see this now," Lucas muttered, deciding he wasn't good enough of a person to hold back a little of the spite he still managed to carry.

The path was tortuous. That fact was undeniable, and it didn't exactly help that it was labyrinthine in nature.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" James asked. Lucas knew he was far from a skeptic, but it had to have been at least a week since they'd begun, and, occasionally, Lucas' translations had proved to be a little unreliable. At least, after they'd run into a handful of strange monsters to the delight of Adam alone, Lucas seemed to get the hang of translating the Journal accurately and quickly.

The Highway, the name the Journal gave to the path, was an ecological marvel in itself. It was a Vernian wonder, a microcosm, with its tall, reaching walls and the way that the environment seemed to change easily from damp caverns to icy walls and snow-covered grounds all the way to something with a more tropical feeling with small plants growing out of the cracks and the way that the humidity made the walls slick with warm and sticky water.

Most of the crew didn't seem very happy with the constant changes. They made the journey more difficult, and a few people were starting to fall victim to illness, forcing James and Abigail to work overtime.

Adam, at least, joined Lucas as he continued to gape at the scenery. Lucas considered him to be something of a kindred spirit despite the fact they rarely spoke. Lucas took note of the way that he'd stare at the moss growing on the walls or squint at the ceiling trying to figure out why it seemed to have a life of its own. He'd take samples, Lucas noticed, before passing off a few of them off to Abe.

It was Adam who approached him first during the last stretch of the highway.

"Don't you find it lonely, always sitting alone?" Adam's voice came from behind him.

Lucas looked up from the books he'd been poring over. "Sometimes," he replied with a slight shrug. "I suppose I'm used to it though. It's kind of been like that for me for a while now." He paused, then decided to return the question. "What about you, though?"

Adam's eyes widened just slightly. He hadn't been expecting it. "I'm much the same," he said, a small smile appearing on his face. Adam looked up suddenly, and Lucas followed his gaze. Over around the campfire, Abigail was handing out whatever she'd been able to create from the remnants of their supplies. The magic she worked normally worked on her cooking could only last for so long.

Adam disappeared from his side for a moment, returning with two plates heaping with something. Lucas wasn't quite sure what it was, but he also wasn't quite sure if he wanted to know. Still, he accepted the plate from Adam with a courteous smile.

"Thank you," he said and dug in. He'd eaten worse, Lucas decided. It wasn't a lie that a little company helped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: adam wasn't supposed to be a main character


	5. Chapter 5

Lucas attempted to set up his own tent, but it became immediately obvious to the rest of the crew that he had no idea what he was doing.

"I assume you've never been camping before?" Jo asked, taking hold of one of the main rope and tying it down to the ground.

"I was pretty young last time I went," Lucas replied with a shrug. "That was before my grandpa passed."

"Batholomew Wahl?" Adam asked suddenly from where he was behind him, securing the fabric of Lucas' tent to the wooden frame.

"That would be him," Lucas replied, tugging slightly on the side of the tent. "Without him, I've kind of been confined to dusty rooms. It certainly does sweeten the memories."

Adam nodded. "Admittedly, we would all be less without him."

"You knew him?" Lucas asked, curious.

"Quite well, actually," Adam replied quietly. "He helped point me in the right direction. I certainly wouldn't have gone to college without him."

"On the other hand," James said, butting into the conversation, "Abigail and I would probably be respectable and well paid doctors by now."

"Don't pretend you don't enjoy these missions sometimes," Abigail replied, with a slight laugh.

"Oh, I do," James shot back. "I have no regrets following after Mr. Wahl."

"He pulled me into this to," Jo added from where she was already reclining on her pad. "Isaac came afterwards though, joining in on account of Ms. Reece."

"Is it backstory time?" Abe asked, his head popping out from his tent, which was somehow far dirtier than everyone else's.

"Oh, here we go again," Hanson said with a roll of his eyes. "He does love recalling old memories."

"It's genetic," Abe replied with a grin. "See, I'm a war baby. I don't actually know who my parents are, so I can blame everything on them."

Lucas stifled a laugh, but Hanson shot him a look. "Don't encourage him!" he whispered urgently.

Lucas still grinned, despite himself. "How about you, Hanson, sir? How'd you end up where you are now?"

Hanson shrugged. "I like the energy of fire. I understand that it can come on as a little strong sometimes, but if you can control it, it really turns out beautifully. My parents let me focus on it since it was good for anger management, and it ended up becoming a career. I kind of regret not being a bit more well rounded though. It can leave me a few steps behind the others."

Isaac whistled. "I've never heard the full story before. Never knew you could be that deep."

Hanson struck the match that he was fiddling with, letting it burn out in his hands. "If you repeat it to anyone, they'll never be able to find your body."

"I certainly don't doubt it," Dr. Washington said, having just returned to the main camp after an extended chat with Nora. "I don't suppose it's lights' out time, though?"

The unnatural lighting in the cave seemed to dim ever so slightly in response, but Lucas tried not to think too much about it. Instead, he crawled into his own tent, choosing sleep over academic pursuit for what felt like the first time in decades.

\--

Lucas woke up around what his watch told him was midnight. It was probably wrong, however. He'd been picking up odd magnetic readings in the area as of late, and he'd noticed that it was starting to have an effect on some of the equipment.

He looked up at the strange glowing structure attached to the ceiling. It reminded him of a chandelier. His flashlight swept over it briefly, before he turned it back towards the Journal.

He hadn't expected the tiny gesture to have been such a huge mistake. The faux-chandelier lit up suddenly and a buzzing sound filled the stretch of the cavern. Lucas looked up through blurry eyes and stared, realizing that a large number of green tinted lights were heading straight towards him.

It brought up an early memory, catching lightning bugs with his mom. He squinted at them suspiciously. These things, they didn't seem to be the same.

They weren't. One landed on a page of notes, and it caught on fire immediately. Startled, Lucas shouldered his bag of books and ran quickly back to the camp as the bugs began to multiply in number. And things began to burn.

"Wake up! Fire!" he yelled, wishing, for once, that his voice actually carried.

Adam's head poked out of his tent first, his face contorted, blinking rapidly. Hanson followed soon afterwards, taking in big whiffs of the smoky air.

It took them both a second to register what Lucas was saying.

"Oh, shit," Hanson said, jumping into action. "Washington, you have to wake up!"   
Lucas would never stop being surprised by how fast the entire team could leap into action. In less than a minute, most of the unburned edges of the camp had already been packed up and piled onto the trucks, which were already driving away before Lucas could even get on one of them.

They started to cross the bridge when the chandelier fell, and it started to collapse. It was a race against time, but that was always a race that no one would ever win.

There was a huge crash as the bridge gave way, dumping the procession onto the ground beneath them.

The silence that followed was deadly.

Dr. Washington was the first to break it. "Sound off," he called out, grunting, as he pushed himself out of the rubble.

He was met with a chorus of groans, most of which he recognized.

"Dawes, how are we looking?" he asked.

"Pretty much everything is destroyed," she replied, squinting through the darkness. "Or maybe not."

"We landed in ash," Abe noted, his voice full of wonder. "We're in a volcano."

James sat straight up. "A _volcano_!?"

"A dormant one," Adam assured him, but his words didn't seem to appease James' fear at all.

"It would take a large blast to set it off," Abe said, eyeing Hanson, who, very purposefully, looked away.

"Lucas would probably know more about it," Jo said, joining in on the conversation. "Speaking of which, does anyone know where he is?"

The crew grew silent, but there was no sign of Lucas anywhere.

"I suppose this means we better go find him," Nora said, standing up and pulling Jo and Isaac with her. "Let's move out, people."

\--

The rubble piled up to form a wall, separating Lucas from the others. How wonderfully symbolic, he mused as he gathered together his belongings. He pushed himself to his feet, or, at least, he tried to, letting out a small gasp of pain as his ankle collapsed beneath him. As he resettled onto the ground, considering what his plan of action would be, he heard rustling behind him.

He turned quickly, trying to see what it was, but was immediately reminded of his injury when a spark of pain jolted up his leg. Gritting his teeth, he leaned on the rocks forcing himself up and hobbled down the length of the wall. From what he could see, he was completely and utterly alone.

Suddenly, a person, covered almost entirely in a large, elaborate mask that was backed with something shaggy and white--probably a warriors' costume of some sort, Lucas noted--jumped down from only God knows where and landed right in front of him. Lucas stumbled backwards, wincing as the rocks pushed into his back and and he put weight on his ankle. He opened his mouth to say whatever words would come to his mouth, but he wasn't surprised when nothing did.

A hand came out from behind the mask, glowing a brilliant blue--definitely not natural--and seized Lucas by the ankle before retreating back from where it had come from. It happened so suddenly, that Lucas barely had time to process it.

Lucas heard shouts and the crunching of rock from behind him. The crew, he realized, and turned to the side to stare at the unmoving wall.

It would be some time before they arrived, he realized, and he turned back around to question the person when he realized that they were already far off in the distance. Lucas leapt to his feet, wondering for just a second why there wasn't any more pain in his leg, before chasing after whomever it was he'd just encountered.

"Wait!" Lucas shouted after them. "Slow down! Who are you?"

The person in the mask navigated the terrain with ease, but Lucas, ever the indoor researcher, found it much more difficult to scrabble over the rocks and not fall into the concerningly large number of crevices.

Amidst the jumping and the leaping, Lucas just barely managed to register the change in terrain. Dry rocks grew slick with precipitation and plants had begun to push their way out through the cracks in the walls. The walls off the cave became illuminated, cast with a much more natural light that Lucas hadn't seen since he was last above ground. That had to be...almost a few weeks ago?

The cave ended suddenly, and Lucas was suddenly hit with the bright intensity of what couldn't be anything other than sunlight and fresh air.

It was disconcerting, and Lucas stopped to shield his eyes. The sudden change in scenery was enough to make Lucas forget why he'd been running. He took in the sights excitedly. This had to be it. This had to be--

From behind him, wall of the cave crumbled and the rest of the crew emerged from the dust.

"Is that Atlantis?" someone asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey look  
> actual divergence from the original movie  
> i'm a loser


	6. Chapter 6

It was far from what Lucas expected, even with the help of the Shepard's Journal. For one, it was hard to grasp the _sheer scale_ of the city. About a mile away from where they were standing, a perfect circle about three more miles in diameter was elevated above a sea of lava, water rushing off the sides. It was a perfect waterfall and a stunning impossibility.

"Best discovery yet," Abe said, pushing his glasses up past his forehead.

"This is stunning," Jo said, edging closer to the cliff's edge.

Adam took a few steps forward, his mouth agape as he stared. "This can't be real, it just _can't_ ," he whispered so quietly that Lucas doubted that anyone else could hear it.

The moment of glory was short lived, however, when several masked people descended from out of nowhere, blocking their only exit, spears pointed straight towards them.

Lucas immediately threw his hands up, hoping that the crew would soon follow suit.

The masked people seemed to understand the gesture, and their postures eased, tips of their spears pointed skywards.

One of them stepped forward, and said something in Atlantean.

"They're talking to you," Nora said, leaning forward slightly so she could whisper into his ear discreetly.

I know, Lucas considered saying, but the words remained unsaid. It was only a feeling, and, honestly, Nora was just too terrifying to even consider speaking back to. He gulped, and translated the words quickly in his head. He'd never really gotten the chance to practice translating vocal Atlantean, and speaking it was another story in itself.

They'd said...something about identity and...intention in question format.

Lucas made an attempt at a response. Even as the words came out of his mouth, he could hear the way that he spoke was off and that the grammar use was far from perfect. He was at least ninety percent certain that he'd accidentally mixed in some Latin conjugation in there. Explorers, he told them, here to learn.

The mask tilted to the side, thoughtfully, then replied in Latin. You speak the language of the Romans?"

"Ita vero." Lucas nodded, wishing that there was actually a Latin word for "yes". That had to be at least part of the reason why the Roman empire fell.

Then, in French, the question was posed again. "Parlez-vous Français?"

To this, Lucas replied with an accurately pronounced, "Oui!"   
"How about English?" Dr. Washington said, appearing suddenly at Lucas' side.

There was a pause, and then the masks came off.

The apparent leader of the group was an average sized man with curly white hair just long enough to be tied into a knot at the back of his head. The rest of the following had the same odd hair color and the same piercing eyes.

"We speak that one too," the leader said, offering a friendly smile. He spoke with a very noticeable accent that Lucas could logically place as Caribbean.

"Lucas Wahl," Lucas said, extending his hand suddenly before his inhibitions could stop him. "You cannot possibly understand how glad I am to meet you."

"I'm Henry Morgan," the man replied, taking Lucas' hand and shaking it firmly. "Come, you must meet my father, the emperor."

\--

The rope bridge that they used to cross over the lava to get to the mainland had a rickety quality to it, but at the same time, it refused to give way under the weight of the heavy machinery that they'd salvaged from the wreck. That had to make it the most reliable bridge they'd encountered as of yet.

"The language," Lucas spouted. "It shares a common root with the Indo-European languages, which might be why they've come to know so many! It's astounding, isn't it? And the precision of it!"

Adam was the only one who seemed to be taking any interest in what he was saying, what from the way that Dr. Washington was staring decidedly ahead with his jaw clenched and how Nora was shamelessly rolling her eyes. He ignored them in favor of grinning widely at Adam.

–

While most of the crew remained in the city, Lucas, having dragged along Adam, followed Dr. Washington and Nora to meet the emperor.

"I seek an audience with my father," Henry told the guards at the door. They peered at the small crowd behind him hesitantly, but they moved to the side regardless. One of them reached into the shrubbery, pulling a lever. The huge stone doors pushed inwards and Henry gestured for them to enter.

It was quiet in the room, serene. Water covered most of the grounds, but strategically placed stepping stones made the room easily accessible.

"Father," Henry said suddenly when they'd reached the center of the room. He knelt down, bowing his head reverently and felt a flood of relief when Adam followed suit. It was short lived, when he realized that neither Dr. Washington nor Nora were doing the same. He was about to warn them of the dangers of their disrespect when the emperor spoke.   
"You have brought outsiders into the heart of our city." The words, spoken in Arabic, were enunciated so well that Lucas was able to translate them quickly. His voice was harsh and grating and Lucas flinched at the sound of it. The emperor was, no doubt, an intimidating man.

"These people come as guests," Henry replied, also speaking in Arabic. "Not only that, I think that they can help us! The machines they bring, they--"

The emperor brought up a hand to silence him. "No," he said. "They cannot stay here. Do you remember the times that other came here, their hearts full of ambition and greed? Do you grow soft?"   
Henry squinted. "I care about our people enough to give these people of science a chance. Or would you rather we die of our own jaded pride?"

"Your honor, we are grateful that you have accepted us into your city," Dr. Washington said is voice suave, barging into the conversation he didn't know he wasn't welcome in.

Lucas turned to stare at him from his spot on the ground, eyes wide as he tried to silence him by putting a finger over his mouth. As usual, he was ignored.

"You assume you are welcome here," the emperor replied in plain English, his eyebrows furrowed. "That assumption is untrue."

"Sir, we only seek knowl–"

"I know what you seek, and you cannot have it," the emperor said with a tone of finality. "You must leave immediately, or we will remove of your ourselves."

"But sir," Dr. Washington said, his voice obviously seeking out pity, "we've been traveling for weeks now, and we've risked so much to get here. Surely you can und--"

"No." The emperor's words echoed off the walls, silencing him. "You cannot stay here."

"One night?" Dr. Washington asked, wavering under the glare of the emperor. It was probably the first time that Lucas had actually heard him sound worried. "Just enough time for our people to rest up. We promise we'll leave at sunrise."

"Father, please?" Henry added, in Arabic.

The emperor was silent. "One night," he said at last. "But that is all. Now, leave me be."

\--

Once they were out of the emperor's hall and Henry had run off somewhere, Dr. Washington grabbed Lucas by his lapels, pulling him close.

"Listen up, Lucas," he said. "I need you to convince Henry to convince the emperor to let us stay for longer."

Lucas bit back a terrified whimper. "Dr. Washington, I don't think that's a good idea. We're obviously not wanted here."   
Dr. Washington looked at him for a second, his eyes questioning. "How are you so passive?" he asked. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"These people will not hesitate to kill us," Lucas replied, trying to sound brave but his voice betrayed him. It always did. "Sometimes backing away is the smarter thing to do."

"What of those who sacrificed their lives for us to come this far?" Nora asked. Lucas gulped, having forgotten she was present. She made a strong point.

"Fine," he replied, "but I get to bring along Adam."

"Why?" both Dr. Washington and Adam asked at the same time.

"Moral support?" Lucas tried. When it didn't seem to convince Dr. Washington, he said, "He's a scientist. His quick wit and reservedness are precisely what I need to better understand these people." He paused, then decided to add, "Plus, he's kind of a friend to me."

"Adam doesn't have friends," Nora said, but she seemed to regret saying it when she saw the irritated look on Adam's face.

"Fine," Dr. Washington said. "Take him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooohhh drama  
> i take latin. i'm in high school  
> lucas has my thought process in terms of the translations. i am sorry


	7. Chapter 7

Dr. Washington and Nora left soon after, leaving Lucas and Adam alone outside the hall.

Adam had been silent for the most part of their arrival at Atlantis, but he finally decided to speak up. "I wasn't aware you though so highly of me." There was a small smile on his face and a lighthearted humor in his voice.

"You're the only person who's really taken the time to talk with me," Lucas said with a shrug. "I've gotten to know you somewhat and you're a good man."

The tips of Adam's mouth quirked up slightly and his eyes softened. "Come," he said. "Let's look around."

Most of the city was well forested with large rock formations scattered about randomly. Symbols had been carved into a majority of them. They appeared Atlantean at first glance, but it took Lucas only a few seconds to realize that they were more archaic than those used in the Shepard's Journal, which he'd brought out for comparison.

"The Journal must have been written well after Atlantis fell," he explained to Adam animatedly. He stopped to stare at one of the rocks and compared the pattern etched onto it to one of the pages in the book. "This one speaks of ancient farming techniques that were only developed in Europe after the Renaissance, and that one over there"--he grabbed Adam's wrist and dragged him across the clearing they'd come across--"is about some form of transportation."

Adam stared at the drawings that accompanied the Atlantean characters with rapt attention. "They're like the Leviathan," he noted.

"They were smaller," Lucas said, nodding. "And they flew."

"They flew?" Adam repeated, surprised.

"At least that's what it says here," Lucas replied, rubbing his fingers over a couple of the characters before tapping on them, "but knowing what we know, it's entirely possible."

Adam took ahold of one of Lucas' hands and looked up at him eagerly. "Lucas, we have to find one of them."

"Of cour--" Lucas had begun to reply when Henry appeared out of nowhere, and inches away from the two of them. Lucas backed up instinctively, bumping into Adam.

"I know my father said that you had to leave, but I'm not letting you until I figure out what I need to know," Henry said, taking a few steps forward until both Lucas and Adam had their backs pressed up against the wall for the sake of maintaining personal space. Henry was fairly short. Though only slightly taller than Adam, Lucas was by far the tallest of the three of them, yet Henry maintained a much more daunting figure.

"Anything you need to know," Lucas said quickly as Adam fell silent again. He knew he'd end up doing most of the talking between the two of them.

The conversation brightened suddenly. "What's the outside world like?" Henry asked, dragging Lucas and Adam with him as he began to walk away. "How did you escape the flood waters?"

"Flood waters?" Lucas asked, but Henry had already moved onto another question.

"And these," Henry continued, lifting Lucas' and Adam's glasses of their noses and peering through them. "What are they for? They're used for vision, are they not? Why?" Having taken to answering his own questions, Lucas didn't even try to stop the stream of words that were coming out of Henry's mouth. Instead, he nodded along as he got everything right.

"Your skin is so light," Henry mused, "and neither of you are very well built. You spend most of your days inside?"

Adam seemed to be rather offended, but he kept quiet. Lucas settled a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Scholars, definitely," Henry said succinctly. "The smartest of the crew."

Adam seemed to take this better, but Lucas could tell that Henry's chatter was wearing away at him.

"Please," Adam said at last. "Don't make this all about us, especially when we've come all this way to learn about you."

Henry blinked. "Oh. Of course." He seemed somewhat deterred. "What do you want to know?"

"This place," Adam said, looking up at the sky past the trees. "How did it come to be like this?"

Henry was silent. When he spoke, his voice was solemn. "More than a thousand years ago, our city sank below the ocean. Some speak of angry gods who grew jealous of our prosperity. It was only thanks to our defenses that the city survived and became like it is. It required a sacrifice, however..." Henry trailed off, fidgeting.

"If you don't want to tell us, it's fine," Lucas said.

Henry shot him grateful smile. "Thank you." He laughed, light but nervous. "You'd think I'd be able to get over it, but...as you can see that's not the case."

Lucas shook his head. "We aren't here to cross lines that aren't meant to be crossed." He glanced quickly towards Adam, catching his frown and the way his eyes were cast to the side. Lucas had seen it before. It was always on Adam's face moments before he would light up like the sun in a brief eureka moment, and suddenly he would seem years younger than Lucas knew him to be.

"Life down here," Lucas asks, deciding to change the subject. "How is it?"

"It's feasible," Henry replied, lightening. "It's definitely not the paradise we once knew, and food is starting to grow a little sparse, but we're dealing. Come a century or so, that may no longer be the case." His expression soured slightly. "My father doesn't exactly see eye to eye on the matter."

"I take it that's why you're eager to leave?" Adam asked.

Henry nodded curtly. "Either leave this place or return Atlantis to the surface world. It cannot remain as it is if we are to survive."

Lucas looked down at the ground. He wanted, ever so desperately, to help. Even if he could stay in Atlantis for even just another week, there were many things that he was unable to do. But that was before he received the Shepard's Journal, he realized, and before he met Adam.

He turned to Adam, eyes determined. Adam nodded in response. The, "We can't leave them here to die," went unsaid.

"We may only have one night," Lucas said, decidedly, "but whatever we can find out in that time, we hope can be of use to you."

\--

"These rocks are like the pages of the Shepard's Journal, but more detailed," Lucas had been explaining to Adam, when Henry appeared with a few odd looking sea creatures on a plate.

"You can read that?" he asked, sounding somewhat awed.

Lucas blinked. "Can't you?"

"That particular ability was lost to our people a long time ago," Henry replied. "I've tried to recall it, but I never was able to pick up the symbols."

"Oh." The surprise in Lucas' voice was evident. "Wait, so how much do you know about the flying lobsters?"

Henry nudged at the bush next to them with a foot. "There's one in here." He then paused, looking confused. "They _fly_?"

Adam gripped Lucas' arm, grinning. "We found one!"

–   
Most of the bush had woven its way into the openings between the panels, but Adam was able to find strategic ways to cut the roots and branches so the flying lobster could easily be freed.

"You're very intelligent," Henry commented. "They teach this at the surface?"

"Not this specifically," Adam replied, but he was too preoccupied with studying the machine to elaborate further. He looked up at Lucas, his eyes shining. "It's so beautiful."

Lucas gulped and nodded. An excited Adam was also very beautiful. He busied himself with the characters surrounding what seemed to be something vaguely resembling a control pad.

"Insert the Heart?" he read aloud, and glanced at Henry.

Henry fidgeted then reached into his shirt, pulling out a glowing blue crystal that was on a rope around his neck.

Startled, Lucas realized that the color of the light was the exact same hue as the light his ankle had been healed with.

"This is the Heart," Henry explained, his voice growing solemn. "We all have one. It's practically a lifeline for us."

"You hide it because your father doesn't want people knowing about it," Adam postulated.

"That may be true," Henry replied, "but it almost feels like he wants us to be ashamed of it."

"He wants to hide it from the people who would take it from this place," Adam replied, then, after a brief pause, added. "He's less prideful than you think."

Henry's lips were pulled tight, his smile wry. "You do have a point." He removed the string holding the Heart from around his neck and tossed it up, catching it expertly. "But let's focus on something better."

Henry inserted the Heart into the slot above the pad and looked to Lucas for further instructions.

"Twist it to the left...and then to the right, while your hand remains on the pad."

When Henry had done so, the lobster began to whir and then lifted off the ground, streaks of blue light running down the sides of it.

Henry and Lucas stared at it, stunned. 

Adam rested a hand on the cool metal. "Lucas, let's adopt it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> adam is ooc  
> this is because he isn't 2000 years old  
> this is not an excuse


	8. Chapter 8

The flying lobster, which Adam had the humor to name Eve, was actually a much more erratic flier than any of them had expected. Milliseconds after Henry touched the control pad, it jerked away from the three of them, crashing into one of the rocks before backing up violently and tearing through a number of trees before it nosedived and propelled itself into the ground. Henry's Heart was jarred loose, and it fell out.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Henry asked.

Lucas shrugged, thumbing through the Shepard's Journal. "There aren't actually any steering directions in here."

"May I try?" Adam piped up from where he was clearing the dirt away from Eve. He'd somehow managed to pry it out of the dirt and was cleaning the plates reverently.

Henry looked down at the Heart in his hand hesitantly, before glancing between Lucas and Adam, his eyes softening slightly. "Alright," he said at last and handed the Heart over to Adam. "Take care of it," he said, closing Adam's fingers over the small crystal.

Adam bowed his head. "I will."

"Tell me more about the book," Henry said, peering at the Shepard's journal that Lucas had clutched in his arms.

"The Shepard's Journal!" Lucas supplied excitedly. "It's a book that contains the notes of an explorer who had visit Atlantis at least once in the past. It was lost for years, but it's resurfaced recently."

"It's a rather large book," Henry said, examining it when Lucas held it up. "I presume."

Lucas shrugged. "It's fairly lengthy. And thorough."

"Yet it did not mention the Heart," Henry noted. When he saw Lucas' confusion, he explained, "Your face when I produced it told me all I needed to know."   
Lucas' eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh," he said. "Yeah, it doesn't mention it." He opened the book and started to flip through the pages. "It leads up to it," he continued, gesturing to one of the diagrams, "but it ends there. I just assumed that he never really found out that much about it. If previous emperors were like your father, I can see why."

Henry opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something further on the topic, but he shook his head, thinking better of it. Something caught his eye from behind Lucas, and he broke out in a wide grin.

"Adam's doing it!" he said with whispered excitement.

Lucas whipped around quickly just in time to see Adam hovering, or rather wobbling, a few feet above the ground, his face screwed up in concentration.

"Oh my god," Lucas said, running over to where Adam was. "Adam, how's it going?"

Adam brought it down, resting it on the ground and taking out the Heart. He handed it back to Henry. "It's definitely not precise, but there's so much power in it. It could probably fly around the entire world in just a few days!"

"I can't believe you got it to work," Henry said, examining the machine. "And that was just from one stone." He turned to Lucas giddily. "How much information do you think this forest alone holds?"

\--

After they gave the entire forest a rundown, occasionally repeating stones for good measure, Henry seemed to be preoccupied with everything he'd just learned. Most of it had already been included in the Shepard's Journal, so it was, for the most part, information that Lucas and Adam had already shared.

Adam pulled Lucas aside the second they got a chance to breathe. "He was there," Adam said, his voice serious.

"What?" Lucas asked, bewildered. "Where?"

"When Atlantis sunk, Henry, he was _there_ ," Adam explained.

Lucas blinked, his mind had been drawing a blank when everything clicks, and Adam's findings became explicitly clear. "Wait, then that has to mean he's centuries, no, he's had to have been alive for _millennia_!"

"The Heart," Adam continued, "Henry did say that it's a lifeline."

"And for all that he won't explicitly state it," Lucas noted, "he has been dropping a lot of hints."

Adam nodded and watched with worry when Lucas leaned back against one of the rocks, running a hand through his hair.

"The _implications_ ," Lucas whispered. "There's just too much to think about this."

Henry returned with an almost manic grin on his face. "I think I found the missing pages!"

"What!?" Lucas asked, jumping forward, pushing his conversation to the back of his mind.

Henry shrugged. "At least I think it is," he said. "I doubt the book and the stones were supposed to match up, but there's information about the Heart." He held up a page of paper where Lucas had written down a few basic translations. "Enough of the words matched up."

"Where is it?" Lucas asked.

"This way." Henry gestured with his hand for them to follow, and he led them through some of the heavier undergrowth to a short cave. "We didn't catch it before."

Lucas' eyes wandered over the inscription as he took the information in, stunned by what he was reading. Once, twice, three times over, he read it, making sure that he'd interpreted everything correctly.

"The Source," he whispered to Adam and Henry who were standing behind him, eagerly awaiting his findings. "There's a huge knot of power beneath the city," he said, trying to stay calm but failing miserably. "It's called the Source, and it keeps the city alive."

Henry leaned forward, eyes widening with realization as he stretched out his hand to touch one of the accompanying images. It was a drawing of a number of people with their hands raised up towards something that reminded Lucas of the sun. At least, it did compared to other cultural drawings he'd seen through the years.

"It must be where the Hearts come from," Lucas explained. "It must also be responsible for all the safety measures the city has."

"It requires sacrifice," Henry said quietly, his voice pained. In response to Lucas' confused expression, he elaborated, his eyes starting to dampen. "It doesn't say it on here, but for the safety measures to come into effect, one of us must give up out life and our Heart. It's...how I lost my mother."

Lucas hesitated, then pulled him into a hug. He never really had a gift for words, so he let his heart do what his mouth and mind could not. A few seconds passed before Adam joined in, and the circle seemed complete. Lucas relished in the camaraderie for a moment, actually feeling like part of something for the first time in years.

When they broke apart, Henry's eyes had become set, determined. "Let's find it. Let's find the source. I think it's what we need to reach the surface."

\--

Lucas drew up a map based on the writings with both Adam and Henry hovering over his shoulder.

"You're quite good at this," Henry commented. "I know the places that this map refers to, yet you've never been."

Lucas shrugged and penciled in the last few bits of the map. "As a cartographer, it kind of is my job. I think the credit should go to whoever wrote this though." He tapped the wall with the eraser end of the pencil. "It's quite detailed."

Henry squinted at where Lucas had added a small 'X'. "The source is under my father's room?" he asked.

Lucas squinted at the map. It was hard to see in the darkness, and Henry's Heart only provided so much light. "Is that what that is?"

"There's not much else it can be," Henry replied. "It seems, though, that the route to it is rather roundabout."

"There's a quite a long bit that goes through the water," Adam remarked. "How are we all in terms of swimming?"

"I'm capable," Lucas replied.

Henry grinned impishly. "And I'm more than capable.

\--

"This way," Henry said, leading them around the outskirts of the city, when they bumped, very abruptly, into one very unexpected Dr. Washington.

"If I may talk to my crew for a second?" Dr. Washington asked Henry, though it was evident to all that it was more of a demand than a request.

"Of course," Henry said, lowering his head slightly before edging away out of earshot.

"How's the plan going?" Dr. Washington asked, lowering the volume of his voice.

"Quite well, actually," Lucas replied. He was going to say more about their discoveries, but Adam's hand tightened around his wrist, and he opted to end the conversation. "We're on our way to do something about it now. I'll see you in town later?"

There was a dangerous second in which Dr. Washington's face showed no emotion, but it was gone as soon as it came, replaced by what at least seemed to be a genuine smile.

"Yes," he said at last before walking away. "See you then."

"He's a suspicious guy," Henry said, suddenly popping up from behind them.

Lucas jumped, startled, and stumbled a few paces backward before Adam caught him. The other man was much more composed, but his surprise was still quite evident.

"Were you listening?" Lucas asked, holding a hand over where his heart was beating violently in his chest.

"No," Henry said, once again dragging them towards their destination, "but he's not a hard man to understand." He stared at Dr. Washington's retreating figure. "It's too my understanding that he quit desperately wants to extend the time you all are permitted here."

"Any of us would," Lucas replied, "what with everything we've sacrificed to come this far. It's just that he doesn't understand that you have little say in the matter either."

Henry nodded. "It is unfortunate, but not much changes my old man's mind."

They arrived at the lip of a cavern that wound downwards beneath the city. It was, at its basest, a hole in the ground reminiscent of a volcanic tube that Lucas' grandfather had studied in the States. Lucas had tagged along for that one, but he never really got the chance to travel very far into it.

"Is this the place?" Adam asked, comparing the map to the landmarks around them.

"Should be," Henry replied and jumped down into the hole, bouncing off the rocks with ease before landing on a ledge and gesturing for the two of them to follow.

Adam went first, steadying himself, before he helped ease a much less agile Lucas down.

Henry held the Heart in between the three of them, casting each of their faces in the blue light. "I'm going to go ahead," he said. "I'll try to pace myself, but yell if you need me to slow down."

Lucas nodded while Adam produced a flashlight and flicked it on.

"I didn't know you had that on you," Lucas remarked when Henry had disappeared into the darkness ahead of them, locking his arm around Adam's so that they filled the width of the cavern from wall to wall.

"I snagged it off Dr. Washington when he wasn't looking," Adam replied as if it were a simple thing of no consequence. When he caught Lucas gaping at him, he grinned and leaned against the wall, nearly pulling Lucas on top of him

"Careful!" Lucas protested as he leaned back the other way to regain his balance. "If we don't keep up, Henry'll get away from us."

Adam sighed, albeit fondly, and turned his flashlight back in front of them. "On we go, then?"

"On we go," Lucas repeated, squeezing Adam's hand.

\--

It didn't take long for them to reach the water. Henry was already standing at the edge of the bank, stripped down to his underwear. He was fiddling with the Heart, which was glowing with an intensity it had lacked above ground.

"It's a long way to the Source," Henry said when they arrived, abandoning the lure of the Heart to peer down into the murky depths of the water.

"I can make it," Lucas said, grinning sort of sheepishly. "I used to practice, in anticipation of the time in which I would inevitably leave the boiler room."

Adam laughed. "And how does it feel? To finally have left the boiler room?"

"I feel alive," Lucas replied, with more emotion than he originally intended, but it just felt so _right_ to say it like that. He pulled off his pants and shirt and wrapped the Shepard's Journal in them, leaving them by the rocks where Henry had left his with Adam following suit. "And you? How do you feel?" he asked Adam.

"It's good," Adam replied with a smile before they all jumped in.

\--

Not only was the dive long, but the water was also ice cold, despite the fact that Atlantis was literally surrounded by lava.

"Was it supposed to be that cold?" Lucas asked through chattering teeth when they finally surfaced in the air pocket just above the door that led to the Source.

Henry shrugged. "It changes," he said, his eyes wandering down to the door. "Though, admittedly it isn't usually _that_ cold." He grimaced. "The Source must be fading."

"We should hurry," Adam said, diving back down under the surface with ease. He was a much better swimmer than Lucas had expected, gliding through the water with astonishing ease. Henry was impressive in his own way, his wide strokes pulling the water behind him while he propelled himself forward powerfully.

There were, of course, better things to be doing than analyzing Adam's and Henry's swimming styles, but he continued doing so anyways before he joined them to help push the doors open. 

The doors were heavily crusted over by a variety of sea creatures, and those capable of moving fled when they applied pressure to the doors. They refused to budge at first, as centuries of disuse pushed back, but, after the third attempt, they were met with the a deep groaning sound as the doors started to push away at the sand and time that had built up against them.

"One more time?" Lucas asked when they surfaced for air.

They shared a quick nod and dove back down to push the doors open to create a space just wide enough for them to enter in to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> adam named it eve  
> what a nerd


	9. Chapter 9

Lucas could see the pale glow from the Source from beneath the water, but he was far from ready to face the full brunt of its power when he rose above the surface.

Suddenly, it was as if there were worlds shoved into the too small space of his mind, beating against his brain in a fight for space. It was painful, endlessly painful, yet it seemed to have a lure of its own.

And then Henry's eyes were glowing blue, iris, pupil, and sclera alike.

"Henry," Lucas tried to say, but caught a mouthful of water as ripples started to push away from where Henry was beginning to rise above the water, floating– _floating!_.

Adam caught Lucas by the arm and dragged him to the shore, (There was a shore, Lucas realized numbly.) and watched him with deep concern in his eyes.

"I'm fine," Lucas said, coughing out the last few drops of water. "Henry, though, we have to–"

He was cut off by Adam's abrupt nod. "Let's go!"   
They jumped back into the water, swimming against the current as the water began to flow away rapidly from where Henry was, hovering a few inches above the surface.

You take one, I take the other.

The decision want unsaid, but they acted on it immediately. Lucas took hold of one of Henry's ankles while Adam gripped the other. Together, for all that they were scientists and not athletes, they managed to pull Henry back down underneath the water.

The Heart! Lucas realized suddenly as it continued to pull Henry up toward the Source. Underwater, the pull was weaker. Lucas grabbed the Heart, wincing as the crystal dug into his skin, with a burning energy. Undeterred, he removed it from around Henry's neck and tossed it back onto shore, where it clattered and stilled.

The light in Henry's eyes dimmed and his eyelids fluttered shut, and he and Adam floated back up to the surface, drinking in the calm.

"The Source requires a sacrifice," Henry said, but his voice did not sound like his own. With his eyes shut, it was hard to recognize him as the same man.

"But the Source cannot have you," Adam replied, holding Henry up in his arms so that his head remained above the surface.

"It senses my mothers blood in me," Henry argued. "I can save Atlantis!"

"Not at the cost of your life," Lucas said. He grew cold as he said his next words, yet was filled with a strange sense of contentedness. "I'll go instead. I may not be Atlantean, but maybe my life force will mean something to it." He wasn't sure when he'd picked up Henry's Heart, but when he stared at it in his palm, he was certain he was making the right choice.

Up until the moment that Henry's eyes shot open, no longer purely blue, and he stared at Lucas, appalled, a look that Adam mirrored perfectly.

"None of us are going up there," Adam said as if it were the easiest decision in the world. "Now get back here. We'll find another way to do this."

Lucas stared at the Heart in his hand, his mind suddenly clearing, the adrenaline clearing out of his system. "Right," he whispered and jumped back into the water.

\--

They returned to the city in silence, each left to their own thoughts. Lucas broke it first as they reached the stone paved roads, a throw back to Roman times.

"We leave tomorrow," he said, catching sight of Dr. Washington sitting around a table with several Atlanteans and a few members of his own crew.

"We still have tonight," Henry replied, staring down at the ground. He'd had trouble meeting their eyes on the way back to the city, and it seemed that mood still persisted.

"We do," Adam said, "but we must move forward with caution."

"Move forward?" Dr. Washington asked, having caught ahold of their conversation. His eyes swept over their wet hair. "Went for a swim, did we?"

"We did," Henry replied with a slight tip of his head. "It was most enlightening."

"Oh?" Dr. Washington asked, but his attention was drawn away when Jo appeared at his side. "Martinez, hello."

"Nora requests a conversation," she said, her face a confusing mix of emotions. A smile was added to it when she caught sight of Lucas, Adam, and Henry after Dr. Washington had departed. "Anything you want sent out amongst the people?" she asked.

"Hey, Jo. An no, we're good," Lucas said, offering her a weak smile. "How's the city?"

Jo grinned. "Oh, it's wonderful! There's so much to it, it's a pity we're only here for a day." She gave him a pensive look. "You didn't ask Henry?"

"Uh." Lucas blanked. This was precisely why he wasn't good at small talk. "Right."

Jo laughed, then raised a hand, giving a short wave, in farewell. "I'll see you later."

When she was a good while off, Henry turned to the Lucas and Adam. "This Dr. Washington, he's got secrets."

"Everyone does," Adam said, leveling him with a stare.

Henry blinked. "Ah, yes, _that_. But you already found out about that, did you not?"

Lucas shrugged, leaving Adam to take up the response. "We suspected you would tell us in your own time."

"Yes," Henry said, his voice gaining a hard edge. "Yes, I was there when Atlantis was swallowed up in the waves." He tried to smile, from what Lucas could tell, but it came out as more of a grimace. "But that is an open secret. I do not explicitly state it, but I don't try to hide it either. Dr. Washington is hiding something. Whatever it is, it's big. And dangerous."

"This is not my first expedition with him," Adam said. "He's always after something. I confess...I have a feeling that he's not going to leave here until he gets it."

"You mean...?" Henry began, his voice fearful.

"Your father was right," Lucas said, feeling hollow.

\--

Henry called for a private dining room and waited until their food was prepared before he began to talk.

"Adam," he said looking across the table with dark eyes, "you propose that your leader, Dr. Washington, will attempt to steal the Source."

Adam looked scattered for the first time since Lucas had met him.

"I--" Adam stared down at the table, eyes wide, his fingers knitting together. "Yes. That's what he's after. That has to be it." He turned to Lucas, who was sitting at his left. "The missing journal pages. You understand--you understand what this means. This entire time--" He leaned forwards, his head falling into his hands. "He's never _killed_ before!"

Lucas leaned over and put an arm around Adam's shoulders, pulling him close. He threw Henry a helpless glance.

Henry's eyes softened. "I'm sorry," he apologized, reaching across the table to put a soothing hand against Adam's cheek. "It's just--I don't know how to feel right now. I didn't even remember that the Source existed until today, and now we're about to lose it."

Adam leaned toward Henry's touch slightly, before taking Henry's hand in his and lowering it. "We need to stop him."

"We will," Lucas promised. "Somehow."

\--

The impromptu camp was silent that night. Henry remained by the tent that Lucas and Adam had ended up sharing thanks to the lack of supplies.

Henry and Adam drifted off first, leaving Lucas, as the only one left awake, to keep watch. Henry's face was screwed up, probably going through a fairly bad dream. Lucas considered shaking him awake, but decided against it. Adam, at least, looked peaceful for once.

Lucas wasn't sure when he'd fallen asleep, but he must have at some point.

Henry shook Lucas awake as light began to return back to Atlantis. (He really needed to ask Adam if he'd figured out how the day and night cycles worked here.) 

"Dr. Washington and Nora are gone," Henry hissed. "Adam's checking the camp for them, but we suspect they've already left the vicinity."

Lucas blinked a few times, his head clearing immediately. "Henry, your Heart!"

They stared at it in horror as the light in it began to fade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my depression started to set in so i went on writing autopilot  
> which means i wasn't exactly sure what happened when i wrote this  
> but it seems okay??


	10. Chapter 10

The cover of the night afforded Dr. Washington many opportunities that he couldn't take advantage of during the day. For instance, the emperor's door was left unguarded. Be it folly or practice, he took advantage of it.

Nora located the lever that opened the doors and gave it a firm yank. The doors responded unhappily, groaning as they pulled apart, leaving Dr. Washington and Nora to peer into the darkness.

The emperor was sitting on his bed, staring at them with unseeing eyes, a glowing crystal dangling from around his neck. "You will not find what you seek here," he said, but it had lost the essential tone that commanded respect.

"We've already found it," Dr. Washington said, striding forward across the stepping stones with the ease of the military man that he was. He took hold of the crystal and yanked it off the Emperor's neck. "And to think it was right below us the entire time."

"You move forward rashly," the emperor said. His voice taking on an ominous tone. "You know not the consequences of your actions. The blood you spill here today will never leave your hands."

"If I cared about that, do you think I'd still be here?" Dr. Washington asked, and he took the crystal and pushed it into a slot in one of the stepping stones.

"Please," the emperor pled. "You'll kill the city."

"We could have struck a deal," Dr. Washington said, his voice laced with fake regret. "But we will maintain our promise. We will be gone when the morning arrives."

The stepping stones began to shift, lowering down into the ground.

"Take our wealth, take our resources, but please, do not take the Source."

"The Source?" Dr. Washington mused as he stepped onto one of the stones. "What a fitting name. For you, it may be a source of life, but for me, it will be a source of wealth."

If the emperor replied, Dr. Washington didn't have the chance to see or hear it. They'd already descended down into the cavern beneath the the room. The Source, in all its glowing fury, beat against their consciouses.

Dr. Washington plucked the crystal out of the tile and handed it to Nora. "As we planned."

She accepted it, her eyes somber. "As we planned," she repeated.

–

Henry, Lucas, and Adam were almost to the emperor's room when the sky suddenly dimmed.

"We're too late," Henry realized, staring upwards. "Look."

A figure, glowing a radiant blue, was suspended in the air, just over the heart of Atlantis.

The Source. _Nora_.

Dr. Washington emerged through the doors, wiping his hands on his shorts. "It's nearly morning," he said, nonchalantly. "Are you ready to go?"

Lucas gaped at him. "Do you–"

He was cut off when Henry rushed forward, grabbing Dr. Washington's lapels and shaking him. "Do you understand what you've done!?"

Dr. Washington's eyes narrowed, his featured hardening. "I know precisely what I've done."

"And yet you don't care?" Adam asked, his voice quiet, just barely kept steady.

"We sacrifice the lives of an already dead nation to improve and save the lives of our own," Dr. Washington replied. "I have no regrets."

"You should," Lucas shot back.

The radio on Dr. Washington's hip crackled to life. "We're in position," said the voice that came in through the speakers.

Dr. Washington unclipped the radio and brought it up to his mouth without breaking eye contact. "Move out," he said.

"Affirmative," came the voice on the other side.

–

Dr. Washington's people worked quickly, surrounding the Source with wooden boards and nailing it shut.

"That's Nora," Lucas whispered. "He sacrificed _Nora_."

Henry looked at him, his head turning sharply. "The second in command? His partner?"

Adam nodded, stepping forward. "Guys, I have a plan."

Lucas turned to stare at him immediately. "What is it?"

"Remember Eve?" he asked.

"Of course," Henry replied, realization dawning on his face. "Ohhh, yeah, I can go find some more flying lobsters. Gather my people."

–

"The light you saw up in the sky," Lucas explained to Jo, "that was Nora."

" _What!?_ Jo asked, the pitch of her voice rising. "Nora? Are you serious?"

"I assume you're acquainted with the idea of an Atlantean power source?" Adam asked.

Jo nodded. "Dr. Washington told a few of us about it," she explained. "If Atlantis was abandoned, we were to take it with us. He's..." She looked pensive. "He's taking it now, isn't he?"

"Atlantis will die without it," Lucas said in lieu of a confirmation.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked, her eyes hardening. "We've done questionable things before, but this crosses the line."

"Spread the word," Adam said. "Make sure that everyone on our side knows. Bring them into the forest." He smiled ever so slightly. "We've found a way to reclaim the Source."

–

The gathering was small, though Lucas hadn't expected much more. The Atlantean population had spent the last few millennia dwindling, and had recently ended up favoring small children over adults. The original crew only seemed to consist of the specialists, people like Molly and Abe and Abigail and James.

"The machines fly," Henry explained, gesturing to one of the mechanical lobsters.

"They're meant for higher speeds," Adam added, "not precision. Fly it as such." He sent a pointed look to Isaac who nodded instantly.

"They also have built in weapons systems," Lucas said. "But use them carefully."

"You'll need pair up," Henry said, taking back over the explanation. "They require a Heart to operate. Like so." He pushed the Heart into the slot and turned it first right, then left, with his hand on the pad as they'd done before, and it came to life. Familiar blue lines ran down the sides of it as it hovered above the ground.

An awed murmur spread through the crowd.

"Well?" Henry asked. "Let's go."

–

When it came to the flying lobsters, it appeared that everyone was a natural as far as getting them off the ground was concerned. Isaac was, of course, gifted, managing to fly with extreme precision, despite Adam's expectations. Lucas could practically feel the envy radiating off the others.

There wasn't much time to dwell on things like that, especially when Dr. Washington was already past the bridge with the Source and his people in tow.

"Let's go!" Henry yelled out over the rushing of the wind and the whir of the lobsters. At his command they dove down, slipping into the volcano through the cave entrance.

By the time they reached him, Dr. Washington had already connected the Source to a hot air balloon that was beginning to lift off the ground.

"Under no circumstances should you fire at the Source!" Henry yelled, swerving out of the way to dodge an incoming bullet.

"This is a dormant volcano," Adam explained to Lucas. They were on Eve, using Henry's Heart. "One explosion and we're all dead."

Lucas shuddered and pulled himself closer to Adam, feeling his stomach rise in his gut as they nosedived so that they could get closer to the Source.

"I'm going to see if I can release Nora," Lucas said. "Watch my back?"

"Of course," Adam replied, taking Lucas' hands in his own and staring straight into his eyes. "Be careful."

Lucas nodded. "I'll fix this," he promised, and dismounted Eve, taking hold of the chain above the wooden box containing the Source so he could slide down to it.

The second Lucas' hands touched the box, he could feel the Source's energy beating against its confines. It was strong, stronger even than it had been when beneath the emperor's room, though it lacked the pull it had before.

The box was bolted to the chain, and the corners where wood met wood were covered over in metal. Lucas squinted, looking up. Perhaps if he could reach the basket, there was a chance he could find something to detach the box from the balloon.

Before he could even try to climb up to the it, Dr. Washington jumped down from it, landing on the box heavily. It shook beneath his weight, and Lucas took a step backwards, clutching onto the chain.

"Lucas," Dr. Washington said in lieu of a greeting.

"Dr. Washington," Lucas replied, smiling weakly.

Dr. Washington fixed him with something of a remorseful glare. "I don't want to kill you," he said.

"Then don't!" Lucas returned. "Just return the Source!"

"Never!" Dr. Washington said. "Don't you understand what we could _lose_?"

What? The thought didn't even have the time leave Lucas' mouth before a right hook made contact with his face. Dazed, he clung onto the chain desperately. Maybe if he could just–

Bam! Dr. Washington's fist collided with Lucas' chest, knocking him down onto his feet. Lucas scrambled the best he could to avoid the next punch which landed squarely against the top of the box, just inches from the side of his neck. The wood splintered, and the bright blue light of Source shone through.

"Careful!" Lucas yelled, but it was already too late. Energy poured out of the crack, surrounding the two of them as everything faded, first to blue, and then to white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you done goofed washingpants  
> you done goofed


	11. Chapter 11

If Lucas was ever to guess what peace would feel like, he supposed this would be it. Inside the Source's reach, it was completely silent, devoid of the sounds of gunshots and screams.

All he could see, at first, was pure white accompanied by a dull ache on the back of his eyes. It was akin to looking at the sun.

His eyes adjusted to the light, bringing two figures into view. One of them, at least, appeared to be as dazed as he felt. He squinted, trying to identify them as his vision began to clear.

"Nora!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw her. "Nora, you're alive!"

She dipped her head. She looked decades older than when he'd seen her last. Hadn't it only been hours?

"Nora," said the other person, who Lucas guessed was Dr. Washington. "Tell me," he continued, his voice rough. "What is this?"

"I had to stop you," she replied. "I've seen what would happen if brought the Source to the outside world."

Dr. Washington frowned. "What do you mean? We've been planning this for years! You _can't_ just change your mind about this!"

Nora smiled. "You forget," she said. "I can."

Dr. Washington's expression hardened. "After everything we've been through, you take the side of people like this?"

"Dr. Washington, you forget that I am the only one between the two of us that's taken a life," she replied. "In the past half hour, I have lived more lifetimes than you can even begin to fathom. I know more than you ever will, and I am telling you to turn back."

"And I'm telling you _no_ ," Dr. Washington shot back. "Like I said, we've been planning this for _years_. We've covered all of our bases. There's no way this could go wrong."

"This _will_ go wrong," Nora replied, squinting as her eyes beginning to glow. "Regardless of where we go now, things will end up poorly. I choose the least of the evils you have started."

Dr. Washington opened his mouth to speak, but Nora put a hand over it. She turned to Lucas, her eyes serious.

"I'm sorry for my crimes," she said. "I entrust the future to you. Consider it my penance."

Lucas tried to speak, to say anything, a question, perhaps, an affirmation. Instead, he watched in silence as the scene faded around him, and he found himself back on the top of the box. He realized, with a start, that Dr. Washington had vanished and that the crack on the top of the box had been sealed.

Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He put a tentative hand on the top of the box. The feeling of intense, overwhelming power took a few seconds to set in, but when Lucas finally felt it, he yanked his hand back, shaking it in an attempt to disperse the pain.

Nora must have forcibly sacrificed Dr. Washington, he realized, uncertain if he should be horrified or relieved. Adrenaline took over as he realized what was going to come next.

The volcano was going to blow.

Atlantis was going to be destroyed.

 _They were all going to die._

\--

"Lucas!" Adam shouted, bringing Eve to a wobbly hover next to him. "What happened?"

Lucas just stared at him, open-mouthed.

Adam gave him a queer look. "Why do you have two Hearts?"

The words finally came. " _What?_ "

"Around your neck," Adam explained with a quick gesture. "How do you not notice something like that."

"It was Nora," Lucas said. It came out much quieter than he'd expected, and he hoped that Adam had heard it over the chaos of the battle. "She's given us a fighting chance."

Adam seemed to come to some sort of conclusion and he nodded, pulling Lucas back onto Eve. "Let's get the Source back to Atlantis," he replied, just as the volcano began to rumble.

\--

Without Dr. Washington giving out orders, whatever plan he had had began to taper off, as his people began to idle, waiting for some sort of message.

It was to the bad luck of everyone that there were still people to whom the entire plan had been revealed.

BOOM!

An explosive projectile hit the roof of the volcano, letting loose rocks and debris. They rained down, damaging the hot air balloon and taking out several people on both sides of the fight.

Adam dove down after it as the Source began to drop towards the ground.

"It's going to blow!" Abe yelled as he passed Adam and Lucas. "I'd suggest speeding up a little bit!"

Lucas had seen it coming, thanks to Nora, but it was evident that the impending eruption was news to Adam.

"Tell the others," Adam told him. "Make sure that Henry knows."

"He already does," Abe replied, "but I'll spread the word some more." He fixed them with a serious look, probably the best he could do considering the speed and direction they were going. "May luck be on your side."

"And yours!" Lucas replied, hoping that the wind would carry his voice to an already departed Abe.

Adam swung wide, catching the chain in one of the flying lobster's claws. The bulk of the hot air balloon snapped off, falling down to the pit of the volcano with a crash.

Lucas watched as the tremors started by the projectile and the balloon's impact cracked apart the volcano just slightly, revealing burning lava, bubbling and broiling just beneath the surface.

Henry arrived at their side, alone on his flying lobster. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking between the two of them, pale, despite the sweat that had formed on his face thanks to the heat and the exertion that the battle had doubtless put him through.

"Don't worry about us," Lucas said, shooting him an encouraging smile. "Our priority should be to get everyone out of here."

Henry nodded. "Of course," he said, his reluctance to leave the two of them evident on his face.

"It'll only be for a few minutes," Adam promised. "Then we'll all be back in Atlantis. Together."

Henry was silent, drinking in their presence as if it were the last time he would ever see the two of them. "I'll hold you to it."

\--

The Emperor was waiting for them in the city square.

Adam dropped the Source in front of him as carefully as he could before parking Eve on the outskirts of the crowd. He dragged a very disoriented and possibly flight-sick Lucas along with him to find Henry amidst the people.

"Here," Adam said, hanging Henry's Heart back around his neck when they'd found him.

"You're safe," Henry whispered, pulling the two of them into a hug, crushing the them with a death grip.

"Getting back was the easiest part," Lucas replied with a laugh, the lightheartedness of it lost in the moment's tension. He toyed with the newly created Hearts that were dangling around his neck. "A gift from Nora," he explained, taking one off his neck and placing it on Adam's. "I believe it's for you."

Adam looked at his curiously, his finger running over the crystal. He glanced over to the box in worry. 

Several Atlanteans were prying apart the wooden boards encasing the Source when they arrived. After they gained a little leeway, the rest of the boards broke apart, unable to hold the Source's power. It shot up into the sky and hovered just above the city, shining like the sun.

Gasps and exclamations of awe and relief rippled through the crowd. It was short lived. Seconds later, the volcano blew, spewing lava into the sky. A huge cloud of debris poured out of the top of the volcano, rushing down at terrifying speeds.

"Pyroclastic flow!" Abe gasped excitedly from somewhere in the crowed. "I've always, _always_ wanted to see one in person!"

Adam looked between Henry and Lucas quickly, startled. "We'll be dead in minutes if we don't do something. _Now_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> abe pls  
> this is not a thing to get excited over
> 
> even tho i got excited over pyroclastic flow in 8th grade. that was one of my things. along with iceland. lol i'm a nerd


	12. Chapter 12

"For the safety measures to take effect, the Source requires a sacrifice," Lucas said, putting together the information he'd managed to compile over the extent of the last day. "Someone with a Heart."

"What about Nora?" Adam asked, his voice strained as he kept his eyes on the giant cloud rushing straight towards them. The air had to have risen at least ten degrees in the last minute.

"Doesn't count," Lucas said, perhaps a bit too briskly. "Unfortunately," he amended. "Atlantis wasn't in imminent danger then, as far as the Source would be concerned."

There's silence, at least between the three of them.

"My offer still stands," Lucas said, though his voice betrayed his lack of resolve.

"No," Henry and Adam said at the exact same time, fixing him with equally worried and indignant stares, as if they were astounded that he would even suggest such a thing.

"I will go," the emperor said, appearing suddenly at Henry's side, resting a hand on his shoulder. "As leader, it's my job to keep Atlantis safe."

"It's your job to lead," Henry replied, astonished, "not to die and leave your people alone."

"They have you," the emperor replied, his voice soft. "I've never been prouder of you than I am now, Henry, and I'm sure you'll be a wonderful emperor in my stead."

"No, _Dad_ ," Henry said, taking ahold of his hand, as the emperor began to ascend. "First mom, and now you?" The last words came out as a whisper, but the emperor caught them.

"I go to join her," he replied with a serene smile. "Perhaps one day you too shall join us."

"I love you, Dad," Henry choked out, looking up as the emperor rose even higher in the sky. "We will never forget your sacrifice."   
There was no response. 

Lucas and Adam took both of his arms, standing with him as they watched the Source engulf Henry's father.

It began to spin rapidly, kicking up winds around the city that tore violently through the trees. A circle of blue began to appear around the perimeter of the city. It rose rapidly, engulfing the entirety of Atlantis, a transparent wall, a forcefield.

They waited in silence for just a few seconds before the pyroclastic flow hit, pushing tremors through the very foundation of the city. The debris was stopped at the door, left to push against the forcefield, unable to progress through it.

In minutes, the roaring had stopped, and the hub had been entirely covered, leaving everyone inside unable to see out of it.

"Is it done?" Henry asked pensively.

"Far from it," Abe said with a grin as he butted into the conversation, eager to share his wisdom. "See, this may have been the most dangerous part, but let's not forget what volcanoes are most known for."

"Lava?" Lucas asked.

"Or magma," Abe replied, "but that's a lot slower." He shrugged. "Give it a few hours, then we'll really be sealed in here for good."

\--

It became a waiting game. Would the Source continue to protect them until the magma had dried up over them, leaving them trapped inside the confines of Atlantis, or would it collapse all around them, killing them all in seconds?

After several hours had passed, and Abe could confirm that they were pretty much one hundred percent trapped under the rubble, they regrouped, sending several people out with James and Abigail to go find food and check up on the peoples' health.

"How are we looking?" Lucas asked Jo, who'd just returned from asking around for a consensus.

"The people want to know what you intend to do next," she replied, looking out across the crowd. "They know we can't live like this for long, that supplies have their limit." She paused, then added. "I know this isn't really the time to talk about this but many of us from the original crew are homesick. We'd prefer not to stay here much longer than need be."

Lucas nodded then passed the information on to Henry.

"We need to break free of the stone," Henry said calling the three of them together into a closed conversation, "but from inside the Source's protection, I can't see how that's possible."

Adam looked up suddenly. "What about Mike?"

Lucas stared at him. "What?"   
"Mike Hanson, explosions guy," Adam explained. "Don't tell me you forgot."

"Of course not," Lucas replied, indignant. "It's just... _why_?"   
Henry leaned forward. "I think I understand."

Lucas squinted at the two of them. "What aren't you telling me?"

"He wants to kickstart the Source," Henry said.

"In safety mode, I don't think that there's anything that the Source won't do to keep the city alive," Adam elaborated. "An explosion inside it will provide it with more power, and it'll be able to break free of the hold that the volcano has on it."

"And it might rise to the surface," Lucas finished, brightening at the prospect. "Do you think Hanson still has things that go boom?"

"Doubtless," Adam replied.

\--

"So what you're saying," Hanson said, "is that you want me to _blow up_ the big glowy thing in the sky?"

"Yes," Lucas confirmed.

"The very thing that we weren't supposed to shoot with the flying lobsters?" Hanson asked.

"Different circumstances," Lucas explained.

"Cool," Hanson replied.

"What?"

"I actually get to blow stuff up now," he replied, digging into his pockets and pulling out several sticks of dynamite.

"Did you just casually have those in there?" Lucas asked, slightly horrified.

"Along with a variety of other things," Hanson replied smoothly. "How many do you think I'll need?"

Lucas stared at him for a solid five seconds. "How much will make you happy?"

\--

Hanson took at least twenty sticks of dynamite, tied them up together, and combined their fuses . He stared at his creation lovingly as a few of the onlookers took a few steps away for the sake of their own safety.

"You think this'll do?" he asked, tossing it from one hand to the other.

"Definitely," Adam replied, firing up Eve. "Ready?

\--

They flew up to the Source, Hanson launching his dynamite bomb directly into it, the fuse lit.

Despite Adam's rapid attempts to get away as fast as humanly possible, nothing happened for a least a minute following.

"It definitely should have exploded by now," Hanson said, tapping his chin when they landed on the ground.

"Differing circumstances?" Lucas offered, but Hanson only shrugged in return. He squinted up at the Source, double-taking. "It's getting larger."

Adam looked at him sharply. "What?"   
"It definitely wasn't that big before," Lucas replied.

Henry followed up. "He's right. The Source is expanding."

Adam shifted his gaze back up at the Source. "Oh."

Lucas kept his eyes on it until he was forced to look away. It was too bright, and now that he had some fairly bad memories associated with it, it was harder to keep his eyes trained on it.

Henry looked around the crowd. "Is everyone here?"

"I think so," Lucas said.

"Double check," he said. "We need to make sure that everyone will be safe."

His request came seconds too late.

A deep rumbling sound came from the perimeter, and bright blue rays of light shot up from the ground, running up against the forcefield. Many of the rays found small cracks in the rock casing and ran through them instead, forcing them apart into plates.

Slowly, piece by piece fell away as the Source's power grew until the entire forcefield was bright blue, opaque.

Lucas, Adam, and Henry shared a pensive look.

"Is that it?" someone asked.

Almost as if in response, the entire city rumbled as gravity seemed to increase trifold. 

"We're moving," Adam whispered. "The entire city is moving up!"

There was a brief reprieve from the weight change where everything felt normal for a second, though the rumbling and shaking continued, but it was soon followed up by a sudden _lack_ of gravity, tossing several lighter people up into the air. And just as soon as it started, everything was still. Even the people were silent as the rumbling stopped, and the ground seemed to calm.

The forcefield faded away, and everyone to looked around in confusion at their new surroundings.

"We're in the middle of the ocean," Molly said almost reverently, taking a few steps towards the outskirts of the city.

Abigail broke free from the crowd to stare up at the sky, reveling in the fresh air.

Lucas met Adam's happy grin and returned it while Henry stared up at the sky in awe.

"We're actually..." Henry began to say but trailed off, favoring silence to take in his surroundings. "It's beautiful," he said at last. "It's so...indescribably wonderful."

"Isn't it?" Lucas asked, looking around him. "It's been a really long time since I've seen it last."

Adam nodded from beside him.

"We're here!" Henry whispered. "We're actually here, on the surface!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: this is the second longest thing i've ever written. the longest one is a book that i wrote for latin freshman year. it was a modern adaptation of the circe chapter in the odyssey. except it was really messed up and my writing was shit.
> 
> fun fact: this takes place in 1914. i've checked to see if names of things and technology were either up to date or in the movie. turns out two way radios were around, but not really commercially. pyroclastic flows were already named by then. but that might only have been in french. i'm not certain.


	13. Chapter 13

Help arrived in the form of a blimp chock full of supplies about a week after Jo sent out the call. 

"Every member in the crew's leaving," Lucas commented, watching as everyone went around the field where they'd camped, checking to see that they hadn't left anything behind.

"Not you and Adam, I hope," Henry said, broaching the conversation that they'd been avoiding for the greater part of the last seven days.

"I think we're going to stay," Lucas said with a smile. "It just wouldn't be the same without the three of us together."

Relief flooded Henry's face and he pulled Lucas into a warm hug. "How come you aren't saying goodbye to your friends, then?" he asked.

"I already have," Lucas assured him. "I just never really got to know them well enough to warrant final conversations the length of Adam's."

Henry laughed. "Are you sure there's nothing you want to say to them?"

Lucas shook his head. "I've already composed a letter to Joanna, thanking her for the opportunity that she's gifted us." He paused. "I've also extended an invitation if she wished to come here. I hope that's okay?"

"Of course," Henry replied with a small smile. "Anything, Lucas. I hope you know that."

Lucas laughed, but chose not to answer. Instead, he diverted to the conversation to other things. "How's the memorial for your father going?"

"It's coming along," Henry said, looking off wistfully. "I just wish there was more I could do for him."

"Just lead well," Lucas replied. "I'm sure that's all he'd wish for, for you to carry on his legacy for him, to keep his people alive."

Henry's visage softened. "I certainly do try."   
Adam returned with a small smile on his face. "They want to take a picture of everyone together, for memory's sake."

"A picture?" Henry asked.

"Oh!" Lucas exclaimed. "I forgot, you're not acquainted with the camera yet, aren't you."

"The camera?" Henry asked.

"You'll love this," Lucas said. "Here, come here." He herded Henry towards the group that had gathered at the base of the blimp.

"What?" Henry asked, as Lucas positioned him at the edge. "What are you doing?"

"Preserving memories," Lucas said around a smile as Adam took the spot in front of them. "Now stay still."

There was a bright flash of light, and Lucas struggled not to blink as several more went off in succession. Of course they would want multiple copies.

"What did we just do?" Henry asked as Lucas wrapped his hand around his wrist, dragging him over to the person who'd taken the photo.

"Can we have one of those when they've been developed?" Lucas asked, not bothering to answer Henry's question.

"Sure," the person replied with a nod. "Give me a few minutes."

Henry gave Lucas a confused glance. "What's going on?"

Adam appeared at their side, smothering a laugh. "You'll see," he answered, poorly concealing how hilarious he was finding the entire situation.

A few moments passed in light conversation before the person returned with a small piece of developed paper.

"Thank you so much," Lucas said, accepting it from him. He had on the same shit-eating grin that Adam had, refusing to answer Henry's indignant protests about whatever was going on.

"Here," he said, passing the photo to Henry, who looked at it in confusing.

"That's...that's us," he whispered. "Wait, how did that work?" Henry stared at him, seeming even more perplexed than before.

"Science," Adam said, leaning against Henry so he could look at the photo. He spotted Henry's confounded face and his grin grew wider. "Looking good," he commented.

"That's your fault," Henry said, looking between the two of them. "You didn't, and you still aren't telling what's going on."

"Chemical reactions and exposure," Adam said. "It get pretty jargony the more you get into it, but basically, the camera takes in the light and reflects in back onto the image, and then chemical reactions happen, and the photo comes out."

Henry squinted at him. "I got the first few words, and then I lost you."

"We should get some books for him," Lucas said, looking at Adam.

"Oh, good idea," Adam replied. "Should I go see if I can find some now?"

"No...stay for now," Lucas said. "We can worry about that later. Just...hang around for a little while. I just need everyone together for a little bit."

"Anything," Adam replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i finished proofreading this an hour before it was due.  
> push me off a bridge
> 
> also i'm not entirely certain what the deal was with cameras at this time so here's a nice guess  
> i don't think blimps were called blimps either, but i'll take it.


End file.
